Dullards & more dullards
Live Nation’s Phil ‘Brick Top’ Bowdery and Ticketmaster UK top banana Andrew Parsons arrived 15 minutes late last week to give evidence to MPs as part of the Business And Trade Committee’s ‘Rip-off Britain’ inquiry. Given how badly things went from there, they might regret having turned up at all…
Complete Music update reports
UK regulator the Competition And Markets Authority has told Live Nation-subsidiary Ticketmaster that it is “preparing to litigate” over potential breaches of consumer law relating to the way it sold tickets for the Oasis reunion tour. In particular those concerns relate to how tickets were presented to ticket buyers, whether dynamic pricing was used or not, and how pricing was communicated to fans who waited in “a lengthy queue” to purchase tickets.
Earlier this year, the CMA said that it believed that customers were not given “clear and timely information about how the pricing of tickets would work”, with the result that “many fans were under the impression that Ticketmaster used an algorithmic pricing model to adjust its prices in real time”.
In a document sent to Parliament’s Business And Trade Committee which was published yesterday, the CMA says that it “did not find evidence that Ticketmaster used an algorithmic pricing model to adjust ticket prices in real time according to changing conditions like high demand”.
It goes on to say that “after opening an investigation into Ticketmaster’s compliance with consumer protection law in relation to the sale of Oasis tickets”, and gathering evidence from fans about their experiences trying to buy tickets, it has identified two “concerns” in consumer law relating to the way the ticketing giant conducted the on-sale.
Having used its regulatory powers “to obtain evidence from Ticketmaster and others”, the CMA finds that Ticketmaster sold “platinum” tickets “for near 2.5 times the price of equivalent standard tickets” even though those supposedly premium tickets “did not offer additional benefits and were often located in the same area of the stadium”.
Furthermore, consumers were not informed “that there were two categories of standing tickets at different prices”, and that after the cheaper standing tickets sold out “more expensive standing tickets were released”. The result of this, says the CMA, is that many fans waited “in a lengthy queue without understanding what they would be paying”, a problematic situation compounded by the fact that they then had to “decide whether to pay a higher price than expected”.
The CMA document, which was provided to committee members in advance of a hearing on Tuesday 24 Jun, is a damning indictment of the way Ticketmaster conducted ticket sales for one of the most anticipated and highest profile live music events the UK has ever seen.
It notes that, “due to the date on which the Oasis sale occurred, the CMA is using its powers under Part 8 of the Enterprise Act 2002”, rather than the more recent “Digital Markets, Competition And Consumers Act 2024”, which was not in force at the time.
It then notes that the legal proceedings are pretty much a last resort, after Ticketmaster “declined to provide undertakings” to the CMA to resolve a “fundamental disagreement” between the way Ticketmaster and the CMA interpret consumer law. Nor, says the CMA, would Ticketmaster “indicate whether there is a form of undertakings which it would be prepared to offer” to address the regulator’s concerns, despite Ticketmaster being “given an opportunity to respond and agree undertakings”.
Under the Enterprise Act legislation, explains the CMA, it is “required to consult with Ticketmaster and try to seek a voluntary resolution to its concerns”.
However, given that Ticketmaster has “not offered or agreed” to a voluntary resolution, it has “now discharged its obligation to consult with Ticketmaster” and will, instead, prepare more formal measures while, “in parallel” continuing to “engage with Ticketmaster in an effort to secure a voluntary resolution”.
Though that other option will, concludes the CMA, require a “clear and timely commitment” by Ticketmaster.
